| Mason-Dixon Park was founded by Ken Heath. In 1999 while he was attending Galluadet University in Washington, DC. On way back to DC after being at home visiting family, one morning, he stopped at a small country store outside Wilson for a country breakfast biscuit. The store owner, Anwar, was from Lebanon. Anwar offered Ken a job serving food in Sturgis, South Dakota. He would serve food selling hot italian sausage sub and gyro(chicken/beef/lamb), and make $1,000.00 in cash for a weeks work. Fast cash for expensive college tuition! Well, why not? A thousand dollars CASH sounded good to him. Who could refuse that offer? His mom had her doubts but Ken agreed to go and work. Not knowing what was in South Dakota for a whole week nor what to expect- he arrived only to see a dead ass town and thought WTF??!!! Ain't shit here! Where are we going to get any money from in this place? They set up food booths only to sit around and wait, for what? Imagine his surprise and shock to be overwhelmed by the thundering sound of a hundred thousand roaring motorcycles enter a small town with the population of about 1,000. It was the 59th Annual Sturgis Bike Week. It was a long 10 days of hard work from 7am to 2am daily, but it paid off for Ken. He went back to Sturgis two more times after that trip to party! This event in his life was the beginning of a piqued interest in biker life. |
| In the next few years, Ken would travel all over the USA visiting 44 states through friends he met in college. Sometime if there was a rally nearby, he would end up attending. Laughlin(NV) River Run Rally, Four Corners Rally (Where CO, NM, AZ, and UT meets), Durango Rally, Conesville(IA) by Circle of Pride MC, Myrtle Beach SC(Probably worst of all!), Cherokee, and Laconia NH to name few. (Wouldn't it be nice if Ken could bring some of each experience to one location in Eastern NC for many who may not be able to travel far out west?) |
| It was while Ken was working in Washington DC when he came up with the idea of starting a motorcycle rally. So he called for a family meeting and proposed the idea of starting this project on the family property. His family didn't think it would work because Mason-Dixon Park is located in the community where the stereotype of biker's lifestyle isn't acceptable. They told Ken "Ken, we love you but we don't think it will work". |
| So, determined to dedicate to the tradition of biker's freedom and lifestyle, Ken went to work. First, he applied for a Special Use Permit for "Campground and Related Uses" and the permit was issued with 7-0 unanimous votes. Later, an application for Alcoholic Beverage sales was denied because adjoining property owners were totally against it. (True to form, the community was against alcohol sales so close to their home. Having two bars, one in each direction worked for us.). |
| Not letting that get in his way, Ken still believed in his goal. He set out to sell the existing timber on the 55 acre property for capital money. Well, let's just say that was his first dream 'cause it wasn't near enough to cover all that needed to be done. Equipment costs, land clearing costs, 'friend labor' expenses, you name an expense and it existed. Soon, it was apparent that this project was costing much more than any of us expected. |
| All the while, Ken was working at clearing what was left behind after the timber was gone. He was curious about the land's history. It belonged to his grandparents. But his granddaddy is dead now. He knew that they had grown chickens when he was a little boy but what was the story behind that old building way back in the woods? His uncle told him how years ago there was a huge poker house on the property for gambling. It was burned to the ground, (a suspicious fire thought to have been set by a competitive poker house business owner.) Ken was told that his granddaddy rebuilt a small poker house in the same spot, which in later years was used by his family as a camp area for barbeques and parties. It is in this same spot that was originally the old camp, which is now the location of our camping field power pole, water spigot, and a small harley stage. |
| Time raced by, and it was in the fall of 2004 that the first party was held at Mason-Dixon Park and less than 100 bikers came to party as only bikers can do. That's how our "Jackpot Wet T-Shirt" was introduced, which is now our tradition. Not being able to meet the cost of all the expenses and so on, we asked everybody who came to contribute toward the 'Pot' for Wet T-Shirt contest and raised a little over $200 for the contest. |
It was official that Ken was in the 'hole'. (Visit him sometime, can you say "meager lifestyle"? You can learn to live cheap, recycle etc.) Families and Friends realized what Ken has accomplished and that there wasn't any issue with the community, they started to pitch in and helped Ken a lot. When it all started, there was just two light poles at first party. Everyone went to work. 800 feet of PVC pipes was installed for water system because Health Dept. said we can't use water well as our source of water. BBQ Shelter was built because Health Dept. said we can't cook pig without roof although the pig was free for everyone to eat. Building inspector said we could not build the stage 2 feet off the ground without picket fence, but thank to a loophole, we can build outdoor stage 4 feet off the ground without picket fence as long as it is for "occasional usage". A 40' X 20' X 4' Outdoor Stage was built with a "Lean-On" rooftop design thanks to Jarman Construction Co. (cousin) for engineering the plan. 24' X 24' Mechanical Bull Shelter was built so the bull can be used under any weather. Over the year, number of attends have grown slowly but steady indicating a strong reason to continue years after years knowing that one day we will be big. |
To this day, Mason-Dixon Park has maintained a good relationship with local community and always open to helping our community in any way we can! We have always maintained good relations with local Law Enforcement by letting them know in advance about upcoming events. It is our dream to be able to give something back to our local community. Ever since the 1999 flooding, the community took it hard. Businesses closed down and many people lost their homes. Job opportunities shrunk. Many people moved. Economics are really bad around here. Global Transpark(GTP) are having hard time recruiting new business. Many "Naysayers" in State Legistators are ready to abandon GTP and its State-Supported funding program. One day when we get big, we want to be able to give something back to our community by offering some part time jobs, giving funds to financially people who need some assistance, and help local charities to meet their goals. Iowa had flooding problems more than five years ago and now it is happening again (2008) so we won't be surprised if it happens again in this area soon. The most recently event was that a little baby from Seven Springs that is no more than one year old fell down at a daycare center. Baby head was injured badly and transported to the hospital. There was a fundraising event for this recently, but it is expected that medical expenses will skyrocket as it is apparently an ongoing expenses. We have been asked if our place can be used for outdoor concert as part of fundraising event for the baby, and we said "YES!" |
So what are you waiting for? Come our next rally date, call up your buddies and make a trip to Mason-Dixon Park. As you and your best buddies are riding down the beautiful country road through a warm southern breezes. The weather is calm and beautiful. As you arrive at Mason-Dixon Park and come to our gatehouse, you see all the wonderful people inside the gate and you see vendors to your left, you see a small harley stage straight and all the campers on your right. You and your buddies get off the motorcycle to pay up, sign the waiver, and wristband get on your wrist. You and your buddies get back on the motorcycle and ride on inside. By the time weekend is over and you leave, you realized that this was the BEST BASH FOR YOUR BUCK ANYWHERE! THAT IS WHY YOU WILL ALWAYS CHOSE MASON-DIXON PARK BIKE RALLY because part of us will always be in your heart and you will always have new friends every year at Mason-Dixon Park! |
